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Israel's Turning Right

By Tali Shapiro at Jan 30, 2009

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Israeli politics is a multy-party system, but there always have been and always will be "the big parties". These are the parties that always get elected with the most votes, and the parties that always issue a prime minister contender. Until 2005 there was "Likud" ("Unity") and "Avoda" ("Labor"). These two major parties would be considered the center, while Likud is center-right and Avoda center-left (this sentence is representative of the Israeli consensus and is highly debatable).

By 2005 members of both parties left, and came together to form "Kadima" ("forward"), a center-center party (yes this is where it gets ridiculous). The existence of Kadima has definitely shrunk the differences between the three big parties, in the eyes of the Israeli public. Nevertheless, most Israeli's dilemma is still which is better, Netanyahu (Likud), Barak (Avoda), or Livny (Kadima)?

The Bad News
A recent article from Ha'aretz, however, shows a shift in trend that scares the shit out of me:

"The poll shows that Yisrael Beiteinu, led by Avigdor Lieberman, has overtaken Labor and now has 15 Knesset seats compared to Labor's 14."

Essentially what this means is that Israel's "center-left" has been exchanged for extremist right-wing nationalism and fascism (not to mention racism). Lieberman is the man that in 2004 proposed:

"...populations and territories of Israeli Jews and Arabs... would be "separated"... Israeli Arab town adjacent to Palestinian Authority areas would be transferred to Palestinian Authority, and only those Arabs who felt a connection with the State of Israel and were loyal to it would be allowed to remain."

Here's his latest election campaign:


The Good News
The leftovers of Israel's democracy are truly fragile, as the case of the banning and reinstating of the Arab parties in the election council proves. It seems that the last watchdog of this democracy is the supreme court. However, the progressive left party, "Hadash" ("New") seems to be on the tail of "Meretz" ("vigor")- the so-called "left of Israel". This election, it's said that Hadash are seriously biting into Meretz's pie, at the youth front.

This won't change the general results of the elections. It won't even-out the frightening move to the right. But the fact is that in a democracy, opposition is inherently smaller than the ruling party. It's worth noting that Hadash has signed a D'Hondt Agreement with the Arab parties. This means that any of Hadash's superfluous votes will be passed on to Balad and Raa'am-Ta'al.

For a laugh (or cry), here's Ra'am Ta'al's counter-Lieberman election campaign. It's the best satire I've seen in Israel for a long time (the so-called satire programs, here, tend to pinch instead of punch):

 

Comment On This Blog Post  See All Comments (1)

Miss_s_clause

By Shapiro, Tali at Jan 30, 2009 14:46 PM

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some quick questions for future blogs

By Archibald, Mike at Jan 30, 2009 18:04 PM
1.When you say 'right', is this the same as the 'american right', or do you mean something different (are we talking about palestinian issues or are we talking about lowering taxes, attacking healthcare, or both?2. When you say 'centre centre', does that mean they have NO policy on specific issues (what would be a 'centre' view on the palestine issue)?3. What is the voter turnout usually?4. Can the legislature override the Supreme court by making specific laws or is there a Charter or Constitution?5. Does the public often have a negative reaction to supreme court decisions?6. Does the government nominate the supreme court or are they elected?

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Miss_s_clause

Re: some quick questions for future blogs

By Shapiro, Tali at Jan 31, 2009 14:23 PM
Great questions Mike: 1. There are similarities in the meanings. Generally, I believe that the American and Israeli right both tend to be fascist. And “the big three” are very representative as to what’s going on with the American Republican/Democrat political system. They are called the center, but they all look Right to me. On specific issues they all bend the same way- privatization in the name of “modernism”. On the Issue of the Palestinians- they are terrorists that need to be taught who’s daddy. On Israel being a Jewish Democracy (a none issue out of Israel, but a huge issue down here)- the same. 2. “center-center” is a bad joke. They are just as Right (as I explained in section one) as the two others. If you were to look for a center view on the Palestinians, I guess you need to look at Meretz- who supported the attack then changed their mind. I just can’t take a centrist view on the Palestinians seriously, at this point, because if you aren't sure that they are wronged, then you just obviously haven’t looked into the facts. An educated centrist view would be not being sure how much reparations they deserve. 3. The voter turnout mainly goes between the big three. Of course now we’re looking at a scary trend, going fascist and racist. The reason Lieberman is getting these votes is because the war heated up separatism, fear and hatred. 4. No constitution- Something called “The basic laws of Israel” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Laws_of_Israel). At this point the legislator can't override Supreme Court rulings, but by reading the South African history, many of us “radical leftist” (that’s what they call the progressive left, in Israel) believe that Liberman will overturn this. 5. Public reaction to supreme court decisions depends on what the government/media tells them is right. On the case of the Arab parties, for example, the media was hardly outraged in the name of democracy. 6. Supreme court is elected by a committee, which is comprised of both governmental and private institutions- I’m sure that will change.

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